EPSON 2450 vs. AGFA Duoscan Hi-D

I am contemplating purchase of flatbed scanner to archive thousands of

prints, negs and some slides. I will also use this in my graphic design

business thus the need for flatbed capabilites. The negs and slides are all

35mm and my future shooting will continue in this format until i upgrade my

EOS equipment with a digital body. I am working in the Mac OS 10.1.5 OS

and am looking for equipment that can or will work in that environment. In my

own research I have become enamored of the Epson 2450, then I found this

forum and it would seem my excitement was justified. However, I have had

some experience with an AGFA Duoscan Hi-D and have the option of picking

one up for about the same price as the Epson. It comes down to a debate over

scan resolution v. Dmax since the epson has the greater of the former and the

Duoscan has the greater of the latter. As I said before most of what I am doing

is digital archiving for photos but there will be the desire to make prints

occasionally as large as 13 x 19. Any one have any thoughts?

I have a 2450 for scanning MF negs, it works great for that. It doesn't do the job with 35mm. I use a Nikon LS4000 for the slides.

I do not have any experience with the AGFA. You will not get a decent 13x19 from a 35mm using a flatbed. Epson doesn't have drivers for OSX so you would have to use it with OS 9. By the way you should update to OSX 10.2.1, way better the 10.1.5.

I can't answer the your question but...

 

you should check out the Epson 2400. I bought both the 2450 and 2400 from Sam's Club. After comparing them both, the only impactful advantage is that the 2450 does medium format while the 2400 does only 35mm. I opted for the 2400. It runs about $200.

 

The 2450 had firewire support but that wasn't important to me because I have USB 2.0.

I agree with William. I have a 2450 that I use for MF and 4x5, and it works nicely for those formats. I have also been using an HP 35mm film scanner for 35mm and find that it is noticeably sharper compared to the Epson for 35mm. MY HP just bit the dust so I am looking at the new Minolta Dimage Scan Dual 3, which looks really nice but it isn't in stores yet. I'm using the Epson in the mean time and I have to use Unsharp Mask to the max with 35mm.

Do you know of any thirdparty filmholders for the epson 2450? The MF/4x5 holder is a nuisance, i would like to be able to scan a strip of 6x6 in batch which isn't possible with the epson holder.

Because of the multiple CCD design of the Epson scanners, the real resolution is more like 1200 dpi than 2400 dpi. Slightly more than the Duoscan Hi-D. If I had the opportunity to buy the Agfa for around $400, there's no question I'd pick that over the Epson. Look at prices on a new Microtec Artixscan 1100 (same hardware as the Agfa)...

 

On the other hand, I use my Epson 2450 (I could find no such great deal...) to scan 4x5 film. I would consider either scanner inferior to a dedicated film scanner for 35mm. For that purpose I use a Nikon Coolscan 4000ED. I suggest you look into lower end Nikon or Minolta film scanners. I don't think you will find flatbed scanners acceptable for this purpose.

I have a review of the Epson 2450 on <A HREF="http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/Epson_flatbeds.html">http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/Epson_flatbeds.html</A>. My experience is in accord with William, Sam and Noshir: excellent for medium format and 4x5; limited for 35mm. I'd like to learn more about the Agfa.